Title: Nickel nanoclusters catalyse growth of silicon nanowires

Authors: Sabar D. Hutagalung, Aspaniza Ahmad, Khatijah A. Yaacob

Addresses: School of Materials and Mineral Resources Engineering, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 14300 Nibong Tebal, Penang, Malaysia. ' School of Materials and Mineral Resources Engineering, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 14300 Nibong Tebal, Penang, Malaysia. ' School of Materials and Mineral Resources Engineering, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 14300 Nibong Tebal, Penang, Malaysia

Abstract: Silicon nanowires (SiNWs) were synthesised by thermal evaporation technique using nickel catalyst. The silicon powder served as source material was subjected to evaporation at 900-1050°C for an hour under nitrogen gas flow. One-dimensional silicon nanostructures were collected on Ni-coated Si(111) substrate which is positioned at downstream from the source material. The most products are nanowires and needle-like nanostructures with various diameter and length. The solidified spherical Ni catalyst at the tip of nanostructures indicating that growth mechanism of Si nanostructures follows a vapour-liquid-solid (VLS) mechanism.

Keywords: silicon nanowires; SiNWs; nanoneedles; thermal evaporation; nickel catalyst; vapour-liquid-solid mechanism; VLS; nickel nanoclusters; nanotechnology; silicon nanostructures.

DOI: 10.1504/IJNM.2009.028120

International Journal of Nanomanufacturing, 2009 Vol.4 No.1/2/3/4, pp.139 - 145

Published online: 07 Sep 2009 *

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